CPDD 72nd Annual Meeting • Scottsdale, Arizona - The College on ...

29
EFFECT OF ACUTE AMPHETAMINE ON EMOTIONAL
MEMORY.
Michael E Ballard, G Bedi, D A Gallo, H de Wit; Psychiatry and Behavioral
Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Aims: This study is designed to assess the effects of a stimulant drug on emotional
memory. Drugs of abuse act on neural substrates of learning and memory,
which play a central role in addiction. A positive sober memory recollection for
experiences encountered during intoxication is likely to contribute to repeated
use. Amphetamine (AMP), a prototypic stimulant drug of abuse, enhances memory
for motivated behaviors in animal models (i.e. shock avoidance, food
reward). In humans, AMP can improve memory for paired word associates and
noun word lists. However, its effects on memory for emotional content have not
been examined. We hypothesized that AMP would preferentially enhance memory
for emotional material. Further, we investigated whether AMP facilitates
memory in concert with, or independently of, its effects on subjective arousal
state. AMP may improve memory through its ability to produce euphoria, which
may result in mood-congruent processing and positive memory biases.
Methods: Healthy human volunteers (N=24; 18-35yrs) receive d-AMP (10mg,
20mg, or placebo p.o.) on three study sessions, before viewing positive, negative,
and neutral photographs and personality trait words. Subjects rate stimuli for
valence and arousal, and recognition memory is assessed 48 hrs later, while sober.
Ratings of stimulus perception, memory improvement, or bias are examined in
relation to subjective mood states and drug preference after drug and placebo.
Results: Preliminary results (N=13) suggest that AMP improves memory accuracy
for positive > negative photographs, with no improvement seen for neutral
photographs or trait words. <strong>The</strong>se effects appear to be independent of AMPinduced
changes in arousal state and perceptual alterations.
Conclusions: AMP-induced preferential enhancement of subsequent sober
memory for emotional material was found, with the greatest improvement seen
for content perceived as positive. This profile may be an important factor influencing
repeated use, particularly considering that AMP is often used with the
intention of inducing a positive mood state or enhancing celebratory situations.
Financial Support: NIDA DA02812 and T32 DA007255
31
PRENATAL COCAINE EXPOSURE AND MEMORY AND
LEARNING DEFICITS IN EARLY ADOLESCENCE: MALE-
FEMALE DIFFERENCES.
Emmalee S Bandstra 1 , V H Accornero 1 , E Mansoor 1 , C E Morrow 1 , A Y Ofir 1 , J
C Anthony 2 , L Xue 1 ; 1 Pediatrics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine,
Miami, FL, 2 Epidemiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Aims: To assess whether prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) is associated with
memory and learning deficits in early adolescence, with a specific focus on possible
sex/gender differences.
Methods: This study was conducted in a subsample of the Miami Prenatal
Cocaine Study (MPCS), a large single-site longitudinal study. <strong>The</strong> prospectively
enrolled birth cohort consisted of 476 full-term African American infants (127
girls/126 boys with PCE and 112 girls/111 boys without PCE). Serial multidomain
assessments have been conducted. At the 12-year visit, 85% of the original
cohort completed the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning
(WRAML). Using structural equations modeling (SEM), a memory-learning
latent construct was regressed on PCE, with separate models for males and
females, and with the ‘multiple indicators, multiple independent causes’
(MIMIC) model used to estimate possible differential PCE effects on memorylearning
subfacets.
Results: With test age held constant, there was a PCE-associated deficit in the
latent memory-learning construct (n=405; p